Garlic
April 2017
Closely related to onions, shallots, leeks, and chives, garlic has been a dietary staple for thousands of years in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean region. In recent years, research has shown this popular vegetable to have a number of health benefits. Let’s take a look at a few…
Cancer
There’s evidence to suggest that garlic has cancer-fighting abilities. For instance, the large-scale Iowa Women’s Health Study analyzed the diets of over 41,000 middle-aged women and found that higher garlic consumption was associated with reduced colon cancer risk.1
Immune System
Research shows garlic can boost the human immune system. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted during flu season found that subjects taking aged garlic extract had reduced cold and flu severity with fewer symptoms and had a lower number of school and work absences.2
Vitamins and Minerals
Garlic is notably rich in a number of important nutrients. Garlic contains fiber, as well as selenium, vitamin C, manganese, calcium, vitamin B6, copper, potassium, phosphorous, and iron.3
Heart Disease
Analysis of numerous studies has shown that garlic lowers total cholesterol levels and also lowers diastolic and systolic blood pressure.4
Antibiotic
Going back to the 19th century, when Louis Pasteur discovered during laboratory tests that it could kill bacteria, garlic has been known to have antibiotic properties. Studies comparing garlic to broad-spectrum commercial antibiotics have sometimes shown it to be the more effective of the two. And interestingly, bacteria don’t seem to evolve a resistance to garlic the way they do with typical antibiotic medications.5
Garlic has been valued for centuries for its multi-faceted benefits.1-17 It has antioxidant action and can boost the level of natural glutathione, an important cellular detoxifier.18-25 The compounds allicin, oligosulfides, A. ursinum and A. sativum found in garlic support healthy platelet function.26-31
Published studies demonstrate garlic’s immune-supporting properties and numerous other health benefits. Garlic is reported to stimulate immunity, including macrophage activity, natural killer cells, and LAK cells. It has also been shown to increase the production of IL-10 and to decrease the production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-1alpha, IL-2, IL-6, and T-cell interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma).
Clinical studies show that as much as 5–10 grams of garlic extract is effective in enhancing human immune responses.32-38
Clinical studies show that as much as 5–10 grams of garlic extract is effective in enhancing human immune responses.32-38
Optimized Garlic capsules contain 10,000 ppm allicin potential, a key health-promoting component of non-aged garlic. In fact, studies have highlighted allicin’s involvement in immune response and oxidative stress.3
GET STARTED ON YOUR JOURNEY TO GREATER HEALTH.... Optimized Garlic
Tobacco More Lethal Than What Government Claims
March 2017
By William Faloon
William Faloon
I’ve always been skeptical of government’s claim that 480,000 Americans die each year as a result of cigarette smoking.1
My reason for questioning this government statistic is that tobacco use is associated with more illnesses than what are officially counted.2
Take kidney failure for instance. Smoking is associated with double the risk of death in kidney failure compared with nonsmokers.2 Yet kidney failure is not counted in the official number of tobacco-related deaths.3,4
My suspicions have been further aroused by a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This report analyzed almost one million adults. These findings suggest cigarette smoking is associated with about 556,000 American deaths each year—higher than government estimates.1,2
Deaths associated with cigarettes are not limited to those who smoke. The federal government admits that over 41,000 additional Americans die each year from secondhand smoke.3 I believe this number also underestimates the real number of second-hand smoke victims.
Overlooked are insidious diseases that kill former smokers long after they quit. This happens when genetic changes inflicted by tobacco use at younger ages manifest decades later as a lethal disease.
The United States faces a healthcare cost crisis. A significant percentage of medical outlays are caused by cigarette smoking. Tobacco taxes don’t cover the medical and lost productivity costs of current and former smokers, or victims of secondhand smoke.
Anti-tobacco campaigns are failing to sufficiently curb this deadly menace. This article describes the staggering number of excess tobacco-related deaths that are not officially counted.
Cigarette smoking remains the most dominant cause of preventable death and disability.
The percentage of Americans who smoke dropped by approximately half over a four decade period, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s.5
Interventions such as warning mandates, tax hikes, and smoke-free environments have helped reduce the carnage.
The problem is that today nearly one out of every six American adults still smoke, nearly one out of five Americans who smoke have a disability, and at least 16 million Americans live with a smoking-related illness. Tobacco products are probably killing closer to 556,000 Americans each year.1,2
Based on an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine titled, “Smoking and Mortality–Beyond Established Causes” and accompanying analysis, the authors believe that at least 60,000 additional deaths per year may be associated with smoking that are not reported in government estimates.2
Cigarette smokers also face sharply higher risks of nonlethal illnesses that further burden today’s inadequately staffed sick-care system.
A solution must be found to spare this nation’s finances, as well as the lives of its citizenry.
New Study Exposes More Tobacco-Induced Carnage
Death rates among current smokers are two to three times higher compared to people who never smoked. Most of this higher mortality is explained by 21 common diseases officially recognized as caused by cigarette smoking (like lung cancer).3
If cigarettes cause other diseases, however, then government claims of smoking-attributable mortality are being significantly underestimated.
A study of almost one million men and women over age 55 was begun in year 2000 with data collection extending to 2011. Confounding factors such as age and alcohol intake were factored into the mortality data.
The final results from this study were published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015. The data revealed that cigarette smoking kills far more Americans than official statistics indicate!2
How Government Accounts for Tobacco-Induced Mortality
The 2014 Surgeon General’s report estimated that cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths in the US every year, including deaths from secondhand smoke.1
This widely cited statistic, however, is an underestimate, as it only considers deaths from 21 diseases that have been formally recognized as caused by cigarette smoking. When looking at other diseases associated with cigarettes, an updated analysis suggests the number of excess deaths jumps by 60,000 to 120,000 each year.2
This analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine includes a total of 52 cause-of-death categories.2 The chart on the next page lists some of the illnesses not officially recognized as being caused by cigarette smoking. It then reveals the staggering increased risk of dying from these diseases in current smokers.
Many of the illnesses listed on the next page are caused by immune suppression,6,7 atherosclerosis,8,9platelet aggregation,10,11 inflammation,12,13 and gene alterations,14,15 which are all related to cigarette smoking.
FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE AND OTHER HEALTH TOPICS, GO TO THE FOLLOWING LINK: http://www.lifeextension.com/Magazine/2017/3/Tobacco-More-Lethal-Than-What-Government-Claims/Page-01
Decreased Vitamin D and Elevated Bladder Cancer Risk
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The conclusion of a systematic review reported at the Society for Endocrinology annual conference in Brighton, England, adds evidence to an association between vitamin Ddeficiency and an increased risk of bladder cancer.*
Dr. Rosemary Bland and colleagues reviewed seven studies whose subjects ranged in number from 112 to 1,125. Five of the studies found associations between decreased serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and a higher risk of bladder cancer. Additionally, higher vitamin D levels were associated with improved bladder cancer outcomes and survival.
To investigate their hypothesis, the team evaluated the expression of vitamin D signaling components and synthesis of the active form of vitamin D in human transitional epithelial cells, which line the bladder. They discovered that the cells have the capacity to activate and respond to vitamin D, which then stimulates an immune system response.
Editor’s Note: “More clinical studies are required to test this association, but our work suggests that low levels of vitamin D in the blood may prevent the cells within the bladder from stimulating an adequate response to abnormal cells,” Dr. Bland explained. “As vitamin D is cheap and safe, its potential use in cancer prevention is exciting and could potentially impact the lives of many people.”
Reference
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